It certainly would have been nice if these were the original cabinet photos but these may be the only remaining forms of these images. These are magic lantern slides of some of the very early YMCA teams. I'm suspecting that these slides were produced from the originals probably 15-20 years after the originals.
Basketball images within the first five years of the origination of the game (December 1891) are extremely hard to find. The YMCA teams were typically the best in the game in these early years but were soon surpassed by colleges and other club and city teams. One of these YMCA teams, New Britain, was consider the World Championship team in 1895-96. Perhaps more importantly, one of the players, Bernardotte "Bert" Loomis, is often considered the originator of the dribble. "
Bernardotte Loomis, a timekeeper at Stanley and later the city tax collector, bounced the ball in the title game that was witnessed by James Naismith, who approved the move - and dribbling was born". Some of these players, like George Velte, learned the game from Naismith himself and helped spread the game.
Two of these images have what appears to be H.C.G. on the basketball and "F" on their shirts. Not sure what that stands for but several of the players were from Hartford so I'm suspecting that is what the "H" stands for. Any help would be appreciated. The medals on the chests are probably various YMCA competition championships.
The team with dark jerseys and "YMCA Champions '94-'95" has a "CO" on their jerseys (very difficult to see in the uploaded image).
Any thoughts or input is appreciated.
Rob M
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